Obama is dressing up old, failed ideas

Author: | Published: 1 Jul 2009

More than six months before he was elected to office, US
President Barack Obama stood in front of a white curtain in a
black suit and red tie at the Cooper Union and called for a
modern regulatory scheme.

"Old institutions cannot adequately oversee new practices.
Old rules may not fit the roads where our economy is leading,"
he told his New York audience.

Since that March 2008 speech the same regulatory
institutions have overseen new practices such as the Temporary
Asset Relief Programme (Tarp) and the Public-Private Investment
Programme (P-Pip) under Obama's leadership. And the old rules
have expanded to non-banking institutions such as American
International Group (AIG), General Motors and Chrysler.

Obama's refusal to modernise the US regulation system
culminated with last month's Financial Regulatory Reform Plan.
Rather than build the new foundation the Plan advertises, Obama
is using the same regulators and the same rules he
dismissed...